Dig in to 'Food Confessions' at Ventura's Rubicon Theatre

Feast on 'Food Confessions' at Ventura's Rubicon Theatre

David Bazemore/Contributed photo
“Food Confessions” writer/star Nancy Nufer (left) and acts out a scene with co-star Dan Gunther. Audiences connect with the play, Nufer said, because of “the universality of food.”

Jeanne Tanner/Contributed photo
Nancy Nufer (left) and Robert Lesser both play multiple characters in “Food Confessions.” Dan Gunther, Kara Revel and Devin Scott co-star in the Rubicon Theatre Company production.

What began with a plate of mac 'n' cheese has transformed into a multicourse meal of entertainment — mixing heaping helpings of comedy with dashes of heartfelt drama.

"Food Confessions," the first play by Santa Barbara's Nancy Nufer, will preview tonight at Ventura's Rubicon Theatre Company, then open Saturday. Nufer and other area actors star in the show, which is built around monologues that deal with family matters and personal issues involving — what else? — food.

As an actress Nufer has appeared in several Rubicon shows, but her focus shifted to the written word three years ago during a lunch with one-time Rubicon marketing director Sara Bashor.

"We would go to lunch at different places and I didn't notice until the fourth or fifth time that she always ordered macaroni and cheese," Nufer recalled. "I finally asked her about it and she launched into this diatribe about the way macaroni and cheese should be prepared and how it has been an issue for her in relationships.

"I started taking notes."

From that point forward, Nufer started listening to food stories — not about the food itself as much as what it means to people. She turned a half dozen of these stories into monologues and shared them with a group of actors who told her she had to write more.

The stories started falling into categories. The tales involve pet peeves, relationships, life and death, and family.

"For example, a lot of people have strong feelings about raisins, and whether or not they belong in cookies, coleslaw and Indian food," Nufer said. "Other folks care about how food is laid out on a plate. I know people who believe having food touch other food on the plate is paramount to treason."

The monologues became connected to characters. A structure was built and a play was born. Jenny Sullivan, an artistic associated at Rubicon, became attached as director and two readings were performed at the theater.

That's when Rubicon's co-artisic directors, Karyl Lynn Burns and James O'Neil, first saw "Food Confessions." They were hooked.

"It has grown so much since the first reading," Burns said. "But even then when we had discussions after the readings, they were very heated and excited. (The audience at the readings) wanted to relate their stories as much as they wanted to talk about the play."

In "Food Confessions," each of the five cast members performs three or four characters. Most of the script is in monologue form, with a few bits of dialogue added to connect sections.

Santa Barbara's Rod Lathim sensed the show's potential and he signed on as co-producer, helping to present the world premiere of "Food Confessions" last September at the Lobero Theatre. Lathim is helping produce the Rubicon production, too.

Nufer made several alterations after the Lobero run, and she has kept tweaking it, based on feedback from Burns and O'Neil, who though the play would be a perfect fit for Rubicon's 15th season. The theme for the season is "Our Town/Your Theatre."

The season, Burns said, is meant to recognize the symbiotic relationship between the theater and the community. "Food Confessions" fits that concept, she said, because most of its cast and crew are local.

Nufer said she enjoys it most when audience members leave a performance of "Food Confessions" talking not about her words but about the personal anecdotes the show has stirred up in their minds.

"It's the universality of food that connects people to it," Nufer said of her play. "There are only a few things that everyone does every day, and food is one of the only ones that makes a good play."

‘Food Confessions'

Nancy Nufer's comedy about appetites and our issues with food will run through Feb. 24 at Rubicon Theatre Company, 1006 E. Main St., Ventura. The show will preview at 8 tonight, with an opening-night gala set for 7 p.m. Saturday. Regular shows are at 2 and 7 p.m. Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Regular tickets are $35-$49; gala tickets are $150 (includes post-show reception). Call 667-2900 or visit rubicontheatre.org.